AAP demands CRPF deployment inside polling booths for Punjab zila parishad elections, fears 'poll rigging'

Chandigarh: Punjab’s main Opposition party, AAP, on Friday demanded deployment of CRPF personnel inside polling stations and the video recording inside them during the voting for the upcoming zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections, fearing “booth capturing and poll rigging.” [caption id=“attachment_5057661” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AP[/caption] The Shromani Akali Dal too sought extension of date for filing the nomination for these polls, alleging that many of its candidates were prevented by the Congress workers from filing it on Friday, the last date for doing it. In a letter to the state Election Commission, Aam Aadmi Party’s Punjab unit co-president Balbir Singh sought “video recording of all the polling booths and deployment of the CRPF inside them” during voting. Singh made the demand, fearing “election rigging, booth capturing and bogus voting” allegedly by the ruling Congress. He alleged that the ruling party has unleashed vendetta politics against the Opposition and “was trying its best to stop AAP from taking part in these elections.” “The video recording of all the polling stations and polling booths must be undertaken on the polling day so that if any unscrupulous person tries to intimidate voters or indulge in booth capturing or rigging the poll, his acts are caught on the camera,” he wrote in the letter. Balbir Singh said the police is directly under the control of the ruling Congress and “they will be misused by the ruling dispensation” during the elections. Meanwhile, SAD asked the state Election Commission on Friday to extend the date for filing nomination papers for the zila parishad and panchayat samiti polls. Friday was the last day for filing the nomination papers. Opposition SAD has alleged that Akali workers were “forcibly” stopped from filing their papers for the zila parishad and panchayat polls by the Congress. Former minister Daljit Singh Cheema said he had informed state Election Commissioner Jagpal Sandhu that no Akali candidate was allowed to file nomination papers in Zira, Makhu, Guruharsahai, Dera Baba Nanak and Patti for either the zila parishad or panchayat samiti elections. “Strict disciplinary action including suspension, should be taken against all the officers who are acting as stooge of the Congress legislators,” he added. He alleged the nomination papers of Akali candidates were torn at many places. He also said the SAD workers were not being given no-dues certificates at various places in the state. Cheema said voter lists too had not reached some places and that too hindered the filing of nominations. Elections to zila parishads and panchayat samitis in Punjab is slated to take place on 19 September and 7 September was the last day for the filing of nominations. The nomination papers will be scrutinised on 10 September, while the date for withdrawal is 11 September. The counting is to take place on 22 September.